Abstract
This book makes a significant contribution to an emergent international literature that looks at democracy through the pragmatic lens of problem solving. Xavier de Souza Briggs locates this in the tradition of John Dewey, though its contemporary variants are much more explicit about the role that citizens, as well as different kinds of civic associations and intermediaries, can play in working with other stakeholders to solve important public problems in ways that are innovative and accountable. He steers a quite interesting path within this literature and brings to bear his own six case studies designed for theory building, not rigorous comparison or hypothesis testing. The six are paired across continents, with the U.S. cases as the repeating ones. Thus, under the policy problem of managing urban growth, the Salt Lake City region is paired with Mumbai, India. On restructuring the economy, Pittsburgh is paired with a region within Greater São Paolo, Brazil. For youth development, San Francisco is paired with post-apartheid Capetown, South Africa.